The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Software applications that provide interactive digital maps (“mapping applications”) can operate on computing devices that generally have a substantially permanent network connection as well as on portable devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, car navigation systems, other suitable devices, and combination thereof, which typically rely on a mobile, wireless, or otherwise relatively less permanent network connection. A mapping application typically receives a user query specifying a geographic location, obtains a digital map from a network server in an online mode, and provides the digital map via a user interface. If the mapping application caches some of the map content, the user also can access map data in an offline mode.